improved by Moorish colonies. * Note: The
martial tribes in chain armor, discovered by Denham, are Mahometan; the
great question of the inferiority of the African tribes in their mental
faculties will probably be experimentally resolved before the close of
the century; but the Slave Trade still continues, and will, it is to be
feared, till the spirit of gain is subdued by the spirit of Christian
humanity.--M.]

[Footnote 132: Histoire Philosophique et Politique, &c., tom. iv. p.
192.]

Chapter XXV: Reigns Of Jovian And Valentinian, Division Of The
Empire.--Part VI.

IV. The ignominious treaty, which saved the army of Jovian, had been
faithfully executed on the side of the Romans; and as they had solemnly
renounced the sovereignty and alliance of Armenia and Iberia, those
tributary kingdoms were exposed, without protection, to the arms of the
Persian monarch. [133] Sapor entered the Armenian territories at the
head of a formidable host of cuirassiers, of archers, and of mercenary
foot; but it was the invariable practice of Sapor to mix war and
negotiation, and to consider falsehood and perjury as the most powerful
instruments of regal policy. He affected to praise the prudent and
moderate conduct of the king of Armenia; and the unsuspicious Tiranus
was persuaded, by the repeated assurances of insidious friendship, to
deliver his person into the hands of a faithless and cruel enemy. In the
midst of a splendid entertainment, he was bound in chains of silver,
as an honor due to the blood of the Arsacides; and, after a short
confinement in the Tower of Oblivion at Ecbatana, he was released
from the miseries of life, either by his own dagger, or by that of an
assassin. [133a] The kingdom of Armenia was reduced to the state of a
Persian province; the administration was shared between a distinguished
satrap and a favorite eunuch; and Sapor marched, without delay, to
subdue the martial spirit of the Iberians. Sauromaces, who reigned
in that country by the permission of the emperors, was expelled by a
superior force; and, as an insult on the majesty of Rome, the king of
kings placed a diadem on the head of his abject vassal Aspacuras. The
city of Artogerassa [134] was the only place of Armenia [134a] which
presumed to resist the efforts of his arms. The treasure deposited in
that strong fortress tempted the avarice of Sapor; but the danger of
Olympias, the wife or widow of the Armenian king, excited the public
compassio